8,832 research outputs found
A simple high-sensitivity technique for purity analysis of xenon gas
We report on the development and performance of a high-sensitivity
purity-analysis technique for gaseous xenon. The gas is sampled at macroscopic
pressure from the system of interest using a UHV leak valve. The xenon present
in the sample is removed with a liquid-nitrogen cold trap, and the remaining
impurities are observed with a standard vacuum mass-spectroscopy device. Using
calibrated samples of xenon gas spiked with known levels of impurities, we find
that the minimum detectable levels of N2, O2, and methane are 1 ppb, 160 ppt,
and 60 ppt respectively. This represents an improvement of about a factor of
10,000 compared to measurements performed without a coldtrap.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure
Molecular signatures of dissolved organic matter in a tropical karst system
Karst areas are widespread landforms present on all continents, formed by the dissolution of carbonate or evaporite host rock. Little is known about the composition and nature of dissolved organic matter (DOM) as it moves through karst systems, although karst DOM has been recognized as important for a range of natural processes. Microbial communities living in karst systems are some of the most diverse and intriguing on the planet, and their metabolism and life cycle can give clues related to the development of a host of different life forms. Karst areas are also of interest due to their mostly subterranean hydrology, and the repercussions of these processes on local carbon cycles. We illustrate some of the processes acting on DOM in karst waters through the analysis of soil, drip and cave pool waters at the tropical site of Yok Balum Cave, in southern Belize. Water samples were analyzed using ultra-high resolution electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (ESI-FT-ICR-MS), a technique that enables the resolution of single molecular formulae within a DOM spectrum. We perform multivariate statistics to detect trends in the data and identify provenance of detected molecular components. In addition to karst waters, four aliquots of a powdered stalagmite sample from the same cave system are analyzed. Our results show a clear gradient between the soil and the cave system. We hypothesize that both sorption on mineral surfaces and microbial reworking are responsible for the observed trend in DOM composition. The stalagmite extracts show an anomalous DOM pattern, which may be due to a variety of factors, including microbial activity on the stalagmite surface and different affinities of compounds to incorporation in the carbonate. The goal of this study was to follow the molecular transformations of DOM on its journey from the surface to the cave, and to provide a molecular basis for the establishment of stalagmite DOM proxies in karst systems
Conservation assessment of the endemic plants of the Tuscan Archipelago, Italy.
The Mediterranean islands support a rich diversity of flora, with a high percentage of endemic species. We used the IUCN categories and criteria to assess the conservation status of 16 endemic plant taxa (species and subspecies) of the Tuscan Archipelago, based on data collected during field surveys over 4 years. Our data were sufficient to use criteria B, C and D in our assessment. We used criterion B in the assessment of all 16 taxa, criterion C for four taxa, criterion D for 11 taxa and criteria B, C and D for three taxa, Centaurea gymnocarpa, Limonium doriae and Silene capraria. According to our results L. doriae, Romulea insularis and S. capraria are categorized as Critically Endangered and therefore require immediate conservation measures; eight taxa are categorized as Endangered, two as Vulnerable and three as Near Threatened. Compared to earlier assessments, eight species are recategorized with a higher degree of threat, two species are recategorized with a lower degree of threat, five are unchanged, and one species is assessed for the first time. Based on the IUCN categorization our results show that all the endemic species of the Tuscan Archipelago are directly and/or indirectly threatened by human activities, such as tourism and agriculture, and invasive species of plants and animals. The Tuscan Archipelago National Park is responsible for the conservation of all endemic species in the area
Electromagnetic form factor of the pion in the space- and time-like regions within the front-form dynamics
The pion electromagnetic form factor is calculated in the space- and
time-like regions from -10 up to 10 , within a
front-form model. The dressed photon vertex where a photon decays in a
quark-antiquark pair is depicted generalizing the vector meson dominance
ansatz, by means of the vector meson vertex functions. An important feature of
our model is the description of the on-mass-shell vertex functions in the
valence sector, for the pion and the vector mesons, through the front-form wave
functions obtained within a realistic quark model. The theoretical results show
an excellent agreement with the data in the space-like region, while in the
time-like region the description is quite encouraging.Comment: 9 pages + 4 figures. To appear in Phys. Lett.
Application of Distributed Fiber Optic Strain Sensors to LMQXFA Cold Mass Welding
The future High Luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) at
CERN will include the low-beta inner triplets (Q1, Q2a/b, Q3) for two LHC
insertion regions. The Q1, Q3 components consist of eight 10 m-long LMQXFA
cryo-assemblies fabricated by the HL-LHC Accelerator Upgrade Project. Each
LMQXFA Cold mass contains two Nb3Sn magnets connected in series. A
stainless-steel shell is welded around the two magnets before the insertion
into the cryostat. There is a limit on how much coil preload increase induced
by the shell welding is allowed. Distributed Rayleigh backscattering fiber
optics sensors were used for the first time to obtain a strain map over a wide
area of a Nb3Sn magnet cold mass shell. Data were collected during welding of
the first LMQXFA cold mass and the results confirm that the increase of the
coil pole azimuthal pre-stress after welding do not exceed requirements
Self-shielding effect of a single phase liquid xenon detector for direct dark matter search
Liquid xenon is a suitable material for a dark matter search. For future
large scale experiments, single phase detectors are attractive due to their
simple configuration and scalability. However, in order to reduce backgrounds,
they need to fully rely on liquid xenon's self-shielding property. A prototype
detector was developed at Kamioka Observatory to establish vertex and energy
reconstruction methods and to demonstrate the self-shielding power against
gamma rays from outside of the detector. Sufficient self-shielding power for
future experiments was obtained.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure
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Evolution of planar defects during homoepitaxial growth of β-Ga2O3 layers on (100) substrates—A quantitative model
We study the homoepitaxial growth of β-Ga2O3 (100) grown by metal-organic vapour phase as dependent on miscut-angle vs. the c direction. Atomic force microscopy of layers grown on substrates with miscut-angles smaller than 2° reveals the growth proceeding through nucleation and growth of two-dimensional islands. With increasing miscut-angle, step meandering and finally step flow growth take place. While step-flow growth results in layers with high crystalline perfection, independent nucleation of two-dimensional islands causes double positioning on the (100) plane, resulting in twin lamellae and stacking mismatch boundaries. Applying nucleation theory in the mean field approach for vicinal surfaces, we can fit experimentally found values for the density of twin lamellae in epitaxial layers as dependent on the miscut-angle. The model yields a diffusion coefficient for Ga adatoms of D = 7 × 10−9 cm2 s−1 at a growth temperature of 850 °C, two orders of magnitude lower than the values published for GaAs
Scintillation Pulse Shape Discrimination in a Two-Phase Xenon Time Projection Chamber
The energy and electric field dependence of pulse shape discrimination in
liquid xenon have been measured in a 10 gm two-phase xenon time projection
chamber. We have demonstrated the use of the pulse shape and charge-to-light
ratio simultaneously to obtain a leakage below that achievable by either
discriminant alone. A Monte Carlo is used to show that the dominant fluctuation
in the pulse shape quantity is statistical in nature, and project the
performance of these techniques in larger detectors. Although the performance
is generally weak at low energies relevant to elastic WIMP recoil searches, the
pulse shape can be used in probing for higher energy inelastic WIMP recoils.Comment: 7 pages, 11 figure
D-type supersymmetry breaking and brane-to-brane gravity mediation
We revisit the issue of gravitational contributions to soft masses in
five-dimensional sequestered models. We point out that, unlike for the case of
F-type supersymmetry breaking, for D-type breaking these effects generically
give positive soft masses squared for the sfermions. This drastically improves
model building. We discuss the phenomenological implications of our result.Comment: 16 pages. Typos corrected, minor clarifications. To be published in
Phys. Lett.
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